Is Staples High School the Jeep capital of the world?
Dave Briggs wanted to find out.
The well-known Westporter — a national broadcaster with CNN, NBC Sports, Fox News and Turner Sports; marketing executive with Cann Social Tonic, the micro-dosed THC and CBD drink; Westport Library board member and, later this month, Fashionably Westport MC — took a tour of the school’s parking areas, including Bedford Middle School where juniors park.
Of 133 cars, he counted 33 Jeeps. That’s almost exactly 25% — 1 in 4.
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Julie List, a licensed clinical social worker, is a graduate of Kings Highway Elementary, Bedford Junior and Staples High Schools (Class of 1974).
After Princeton University she earned a master’s in social work. A longtime clinician and psychotherapist, she now works at Montefiore Hospital, and is on the faculty of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Julie still follows news from her hometown. She writes:
The distraught parents, Dr. Carol Felder and Mr. Richard Anderson, recounted to the Board of Education their daughters’ experiences at Bedford Middle School and Staples High School.
I immediately posted the article on the Staples High School Alumni Facebook page, a group with about 6,000 members. I assumed everyone would want to know about it.
Julie List
Nearly a dozen people responded with the disappointment and outrage I imagined they would, and expressed shame about the town.
However, one of the site’s admins shut down comments, because he deemed it a “political post.”
When I objected privately he cited the rules of the group. Then, completely out of context, he posted a poll asking members if they wanted the site to include “political posts.” He did not say this was in reference to the horrible racist incidents occurring at Staples.
A large majority of the members who responded said “no.” In their comments they waxed rhapsodic about the good old days at Staples, preferring to hear about old friends, strolls on Compo Beach, or their former sports teams.
They kept referring me elsewhere, where people were “allowed” to write about current Westport events.
They did not want to hear about the pain the Black parents were feeling about the freedom some students feel they have to use the “n”-word, and other offensive interactions.
Racism is not something that can be whitewashed or ignored. Once it takes root, the entire system breeds more race-related discrimination.
Many Facebook users wrote that what happened was merely “bullying,” perhaps not understanding the enormous difference. They wanted the post and any allusions to current happenings at Bedford or Staples removed from their sweet memories.
Carol Felder spoke at a Board of Education meeting earlier this month. Her husband, Richard Anderson stood by her side.
Westport has always been a primarily white town. My mother, a Westport News and Fairpress journalist, used to tell my sister and me, “you should know this is not real life. Living here among mostly white people is not how the world works.”
When I went through the school system from 1st through 12th grade, maybe 4 Black families sent their kids to the public schools. Perhaps this lulled white students into thinking racism was not a problem.
One person wrote: “We put too much emphasis on race, religion and national origin… When we grew up in Westport I don’t think that really mattered (emphasis mine). But [what’s going on now] is part of an agenda that is being pushed down our throats.”
The underbelly of the so-called liberal or progressive town was openly revealed in these posts by people who had no interest in the extreme pain the Felder-Anderson family expressed at the Board of Ed meeting.
As a white person who has studied and taught anti-racism in mental health clinics and in a medical school for several decades, I have learned that the fact that many white people don’t want to talk about racism is because they think they don’t have to. Systemic, structural and institutional racism permeate our culture on all levels.
Here we have parents who asked for help to improve the school system to protect their daughters and other Black families in town. It’s fine if alumni don’t want to get involved with looking for solutions. But if they can’t even read about it and have a dialogue, there is something genuinely amiss.
I don’t care if this post is on the Staples High School Alumni Facebook site. I do care how speedily it was dismissed, and deemed “inappropriate” for alumni to read.
Going forward, how are those of us who are eager to brainstorm with the school system to educate and train teachers, administrators and students going to help?
I believe we all have to take some responsibility for what happened to the Felder-Anderson children. The children who acted in a racist manner should not just be scolded or grounded, nor should they be castigated for “bullying.” This is a much bigger and deeper problem.
“The most difficult thing” she has ever done, Dr. Felder said, “is to raise Black children in Westport, Connecticut.”
The Connecticut Air & Space Center in Stratford is a very cool place. It’s one of a very few museums of its type in the country located in an original World War II aircraft factory.
Which made it a very fitting destination for Jean Hunt Tucker the other day.
The 1941 Staples High School graduate — who turns 99 in November — traveled from Florida with her daughter and granddaughter to see the Corsair.
There was a good reason: Jean was one of the first female engineers to work at the plant during World War II. Among her projects: the F4U Corsair.
Joan Tucker with the museum’s Corsair.
After Staples she headed to college in Ohio. After Pearl Harbor — a few months later — she returned to this area. She enrolled at Bridgeport State Trade School, to learn drafting.
At 18 she joined the engineering department of Chance Vought Aircraft in Stratford. She was one of very few females; most of the others were secretaries and clerks.
Jane made drawings of parts for electrical installations — without ever seeing the actual equipment. She also worked on fuselages.
Chance Vought sent her to the Academy of Aeronautics, near La Guardia Airport, to train women entering the industry.
Part of the Connecticut Air & Space Center’s exhibit is dedicated to Joan Tucker.
In 1945 Joan entered Northeastern University, as one of its first class of women.
She married in 1949. When the company moved to Dallas, she stayed here. She earned a degree in industrial engineering, and taught math for 38 years in 3 states and 2 foreign countries.
Thank you, Joan, for your service. Many Westport men served — 20% of the Staples Class of 1943 missed their graduation ceremony, as they were already in the military — but we can’t forget the important contributions of Westport’s women either. (Hat tips: Frank Rosen and Len Roberto)
50 Years Ago This Week(September 22, 1973): Officials announced that a $14 million enlargement plan would be sought for Staples High Schoo.
The proposed additions included an array of new athletic facilities such as a skating rink, 2 new baseball fields, and one additional field for soccer and field hockey.
The additions were never built. The “modernization” of 1978-81 — which connected 9 separate buildings — did include new athletic facilities: a fieldhouse and pool. (Hat tip: Fred Cantor)
The “new” Staples, circa 1959. The auditorium (center left) and gym (largest building in the rear) are the only original structures that remain today.
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Dr. Stefanie Lemcke lives on North Avenue. She is the founder and CEO of Gokid, a carpooling technology for schools. Stefanie writes:
When my husband and I learned (after the fact) that Mary Young, director of Westport’s Planning & Zoning Department, had issued a permit allowing the new school bus company First Student to park at Staples and other Westport schools, we were concerned.
First, there had been no notice or public hearing on the matter. In fact, we only learned of the permit when P&Z issued a press release.
Second, we believed any such decision properly lay with the Planning & Zoning Commission, and not with Ms. Young.
And third, we were concerned that this was a backhanded way to save money by permanently moving the parking to school property. (The previous company provided a parking lot on the Post Road).
We were assured, however, that this was only an interim measure, and that the conditions attached to the permit would protect neighbors and adequately address our concerns.
It turns out that we were right to be worried. Not only are these buses creating additional traffic around schools, but every weekday since school started, our entire North Avenue neighborhood has been awakened at 5:45 a.m. by the sound of buses firing up, then beeping and backing up, as well as the sound of motors idling.
Every morning, way before school starts, we have also been treated to the toxic pollution produced by those engines. Here’s a video:
Ali Stanley of Willow Walk says: “Since the first day of school I have been awakened by the beeping and honking of the buses parked at Staples. I look forward to October 31 when they can find an alternate home. The noise pollution is unsustainable.”
We raised the problem with the schools, the town and the Board of Education over the past week. We believed that we were on firm ground in doing so. After all, the permit expressly prohibits any activity that “adversely impact[s] the students, neighbors, and the community at large.”
Moreover, the permit states that any complaints will be resolved within 7 days.
Yet the town has done nothing to remedy the situation. In fact, when we raised the issue of idling buses, we were told that this was simply the company “doing their maintenance thing.” (Never mind that maintenance is specifically prohibited on school grounds.)
We are particularly concerned because the permit is due to expire on October 31, and to the best of our knowledge, the town has done nothing to procure alternative sites for the buses.
Buses parked during the day at Staples High School. (Photo/Stefanie Lemcke)
We believe that it would be unconscionable (and potentially illegal) for the town to extend this permit, given the lack of public input at the time it was adopted and the environmental and health consequences for residents.
It is time for the town to become more transparent about these types of decisions, to include neighbors in the process, and to reveal what efforts have been undertaken to find a permanent location for the buses.
We are a leading school district, so let’s lead by example: We are asking to bring back dedicated, off-campus parking for buses, which will decrease traffic around school sites, improve access, air quality, and safety for students and staff, and generally improve our quality of life.
Last week, in response to numerous concerns about school buses — including not only school parking, but routes and reliability — superintendent of school Thomas Scarice addressed the bus question. In an email to Westport Public Schools parents, he wrote:
The district has officially transitioned transportation providers from Dattco to First Student. Our efforts certainly are not perfect, particularly at the beginning of the school year, but performance is much improved and will only continue to get better as the days and weeks ensue.
Bus Parking: The district secured temporary authorization to park in our school lots through October 31 and we are actively pursuing options for the permanent parking of buses. An extension of authorization for school-based parking may need to be pursued in the interim.
New Buses: A completely new fleet of buses will roll off the assembly line and into our schools in December. When that happens, the transportation app will return. The current fleet does not have the technology to support the transportation app.
First Student buses. (Photo/Amy Schneider)
Drivers: There is a full roster of drivers this year, which significantly contributes to more reliability. Many Dattco drivers have been hired by First Student. However, there could be a time where a combined route is necessary if a significant number of drivers call out on a given day. There are a couple of routes that continue to need attention to improve performance and I can assure our families that this work is underway. Improvements will continue to be felt in the coming days and weeks.
Traffic: One pervasive challenge that has only worsened is the traffic volume around town. As we moved beyond the pandemic, traffic patterns became problematic. These problems are worse this year than any of my three previous years. We will work to reroute as needed to mitigate the effects of town traffic.
Overall, the entire transportation operation is better, but there is still plenty of room for improvement, particularly at this point in the school year. Communication will improve and parents should look for messages from building administrators when there are delays.
To support our ask to bring back a dedicated school bus parking lot, please email me: stlemcke@gmail.com.
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Westport’s 17th annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration next month will be one of its most memorable.
Author/creative artist/filmmaker/playwright/multi-dimensional performance artist Junauda Petrus will be the special guest here.
Petrus’ work spotlights “Black wildness, laughter, futurism, ancestral healing, sweetness, spectacle and shimmer.” Her debut novel, “The Stars and the Blackness Between Them,” received the 2020 Coretta Scott King Book Award. She is writing a screenplay adaptation of the book.
Petrus’ visit to Westport will focus on “reimagining community diversity, engagement, and civility.”
On Friday, January 13 she will present at area schools. On Saturday, January 14 Petrus will visit the Westport Library for an experiential workshop with local artists (click here for more information), followed by a panel discussion with them (click here to register).
The 3-day celebration culminates on Sunday, January 15 with her 3 p.m. keynote address at the Westport Country Playhouse. Copies of her book will be available for purchase, with Petrus signing copies after her talk. The program is free with registration (click here), and includes a dance performance by the Regional Center for the Arts.
The Martin Luther King Jr. celebration began in 2006, coordinated by the Westport/Weston Interfaith Council and Westport/Weston Interfaith Clergy. Since 2016 it has been hosted by those 2 organizations, the Westport Library, Westport Country Playhouse, and TEAM Westport.
Tuesday night was magical at Wakeman Town Farm. 120 members of Club 203 gathered for their first-ever holiday party.
The organization offers great social opportunities for adults with disabilities. They’re uplifted by strong community support.
For this week’s festivities, the tent was sponsored by the Riverside Realty Group. Motivators came from TAP Strength. The art project in Tim’s Kitchen was hosted by MoCA.
The hot cocoa bar and snacks were Gold’s, Rye Ridge Deli, The Porch @ Christie’s, Fresh Market and Silverman Farms. The event space came courtesy of Wakeman Town Farm.
A few of the Club 203 party-goers at Wakeman Town Farm. (Photo/John Videler for Videler Photography)
For the second year in a row, all 22 Kings Highway Elementary School classes participated in the Connecticut Education Foundation’s Holiday Bear program.
Each class received information about a child in our area who might not receive gifts for the holidays. Families shopped for items on the youngsters’ holiday wish lists. They ranged from toys and crafts to necessities like coats, hats, gloves and pajamas.
Students worked with their teachers and parent volunteers to wrap each gift. ,
In addition, KHS teachers banded together to sponsor an additional child on their own.
Earlier today, CEF picked up all 23 Holiday Bear duffle bags, bursting with wrapped gifts from teachers, students and staff.
Congratulations to the Kings Highway Elementary School community. That’s the holiday spirit!
Kings Highway students, with a few of the 23 Holiday Bear duffel bags stuffed with gifts. (Photo courtesy of KHS PTA)
The Westport Domestic Violence Task Force had its own successful holiday drive.
For the past week, they collected gift cards, to benefit the Domestic Violence Crisis Center safehouse and community clients.
Residents donated $3,250 in cards to department specialty, and grocery stores. Survivors purchase what they most need or want for their families this season.
This can be a dark time for victims of domestic violence. The WDVTF thanks all who help make it a bit brighter.
In 2015, the Westport Weston Family YMCA received a large and unexpected gift from the estate of Ruth Bedford.
The granddaughter of Edward T. Bedford — who founded the Y — she had died the previous year, at 99. The board of trustees established the Ruth Bedford Social Responsibility Fund. Its endowment supports grants to organizations that provide direct or supplemental educational opportunities in Fairfield County.
This week, the Y honored the 31 recipients for 2022.
Representatives from each group described how their grants would be spent. For example:
The Carver Foundation of Norwalk serves 2,500 K-12 students. Funds will towards supporting its middle school program.
Homes with Hope will help housing insecure people get back on their feet.
Mercy Learning Center of Bridgeport will use the grant for its Early Childhood Education program.
New Beginnings Family Academy serves Bridgeport’s most vulnerable children. The donation will help “level the playing field.”
Wakemen Memorial Association (Boys & Girls Club) sponsors after-school and summer camp programs. They’re also building a second location in Bridgeport,
CEOs Marcie Berson (Greater Connecticut Youth Orchestra) and Novelette Peterkin (Carver Foundation) share a table at the Westport Y’s Ruth Bedford Social Responsibility Fund ceremony.
Staples High School’s December Students of the Month are seniors Zoe Webster and Mia Vindiola; junior Andrew Cerrito; sophomores Ethen Perry and Kensley Laguerre, and freshmen Benjamin Barger and Annabelle Katz.
The award recognizes students who “help make Staples High School a welcoming place for their peers and teachers alike. They are the ‘glue’ of the Staples community: the type of kind, cheerful, hard-working, trustworthy students that keep the high school together, making it the special place that it is.”
Students of the Month are nominated by their teachers, who are asked to think of “all-around good citizens” of the school.
Staples High School’s December Students of the Month. From left: Benjamin Barger, Zoe Webster, Annabelle Katz, Kensley Laguerre, Andrew Cerrito, Ethen Perry. Absent: Mia Vindiola.
Westport superintendent of schools Thomas Scarice says:
“This morning, a call was made to the Westport Police Department that warranted a lockdown at Staples High School.
“As a precaution, Bedford Middle School was placed in a ‘shelter in place.; The WPD is on scene at this moment investigating and the building is secure.
“When a school is in a lockdown or ‘shelter in place,’ no visitors are allowed on campus. All district schools have implemented safety procedures until this matter is resolved.”
As the school year ends, Westport’s 8th graders begin the transition to Staples High.
Administrators, teachers and parents have started to prepare them. But the info the adults provide — on courses, curriculums and clubs — is not necessarily what rising freshmen want to hear.
They have more mundane, but crucially important, concerns: Where will I sit in the cafeteria? What happens if my locker is too far from my classes? Will I ever see my friends?
Link Crew knows all the answers. Not long ago, the 80 juniors and seniors were freshmen themselves.
A small number of the 80 Link Crew members.
Link Crew is a student mentorship program. The goal is to make the move from middle to high school — one of the most momentous of a teenager’s life — as easy as possible.
“We want the school to feel smaller,” says Jamie Pacuk, one of 3 passionate advisors. “Not everyone has an older sibling.”
English teacher Pacuk, physical education instructor Jeff Doornweerd and special education teacher Lauren Manosh are 3 very different people, inhabiting 3 very different Staples worlds.
That mirrors the Link Crew model. The advisors seek a diverse group of mentors. Together, they encompass nearly all of the many opportunities Staples offers.
The selection process is rigorous — including a video. “Someone might write well, but can they communicate clearly and easily, and speak from the heart?” Doornweerd asks. “If they’re not comfortable making their own video, how comfortable would they be relating in small groups to other people?”
Once selected, the 40 new juniors join 40 returning seniors in special training. (Every junior wants to return the next year, Manosh says proudly.)
This spring, mentors went to the middle schools to introduce the program. They also led tours, on a recent 8th grader visit.
Leading a recent tour for 8th graders. The Link Crew shirts say “We’ll be there for you.”
In August they contact their small group of rising freshmen — and the students’ parents. They explain who they are, what they’ll be doing, and give them their phone numbers. “Text us any time!” they say.
Before opening day, Link Crews meet for orientation tours. Relationships take root, as freshmen realize they can ask the questions adults cannot — or would not think to — answer.
On the first day of school, Link Crew members wear special t-shirts. They check in with “their” 9th graders frequently, during those sometimes-overwhelming initial days.
The program continues throughout the year. Once a month, mentors do activities during the “Connections” period.
The background to Link Crew is as interesting as the program itself. Funded initially by a 2019-20 Staples and middle school PTA grants, the advisors began visiting schools that already used Link Crew (it’s part of a national program). Advisors’ training was set for April.
COVID closed school. But Pacuk, Doornweerd and Manosh persevered, setting up a virtual model for the 2020-21 school year. “We built the airplane as we flew it,” Doornweerd notes.
In 2020, Emily Epstein and Owen Dolan introduced Link Crew to freshmen via video.
For freshmen beginning their Staples careers at a time of such uncertainty and flux, the program proved crucial. Even online, they felt they had gotten to know upperclassmen. Barriers between classes had been eased.
Pacuk, Doornweerd and Manosh love their 80 Link Crew mentors. “They’re very engaged,” Pacuk says. “They have a real enthusiasm for wanting to make Staples a better place, any way they can.”
The advisors hope to expand the program, adding activities like socials and exam study groups.
Meanwhile, despite starting a major new program in the midst of a pandemic, they tout its success.
“We’re a social species. This gives people their own ‘tribe,'” Manosh says.
“This is a big school,” Pacuk adds. “It’s important to feel part of something — to know you have a network of support.”
A little gesture — a text from a mentor, noting about a student’s absence from Connections — can go a long, long way. “It says, ‘Someone cares,'” Manosh says.
The long legal battle to stop construction of 157 apartments on Hiawatha Lane may be over.
Hartford Superior Court Judge Marshall Berger issued a summary judgment ruling on Tuesday, in favor of developer Summit Saugatuck. The ruling may effectively end efforts by the plaintiffs — residents of the neighborhood off Saugatuck Avenue, near I-95 Exit 17 — to halt the project.
At issue were deed restrictions, limiting some properties in the area to single-family development.
At issue were deed restrictions of some properties in the area, limiting each lot to single-family development. At least 2 of those parcels are included in the Summit plans.
Owners of the other properties included in the deed restriction filed suit against Summit for breaching the restriction. They asked the court to prevent Summit from proceeding with the development, after its approved by Westport’s Planning & Zoning Commission.
Berger ruled that the easement did not reach the necessary legal requirements for it to be enforceable against the Summit properties. (Hat tip: Gloria Gouveia)
Artist’s rendering of one of the buildings at Summit Saugatuck’s Hiawatha Lane development.
Congratulations to Sasha Maskoff. The talented senior — a pianist who has played at Carnegie Hall (and last December’s spectacular Candlelight Concert), and tutors young students — is the 2022 Staples Key winner.
The award — donated by Westport’s Kiwanis Club — is considered the most prestigious at the high school. The other finalists were Jasper Cahn and William Heisler.
The honor was announced by principal Stafford Thomas, at last night’s annual awards ceremony. Arts, English, Math, Science, Social Studies, World Language and other awards were presented too.
Thomas also presented 15 Principal’s Awards, for outstanding service and contributions, to Slade Anastasia, Nick Augeri, Caroline Coffey, Catherine Cunningham, Amy Ginzburg, Emorej Hunter, Matthew Jordan, Elle Laub, Madeline Michalowski, ishan Prasad, Noah Robison, Ally Schwartz, Max Udell and Ella Williams.
Two members of each class received Staples Awards for Character: seniors Chloe Nevas and Nick Prior, juniors Jacob Baker and Miriam Hurley, sophomores Gianna Amatuzzi and Caroline Hechter, and freshmen Dylan Phillips and Mieszko Solowinski.
Staples High School principal Stafford Thomas, at last night’s awards ceremony. (Photo/David Pogue)
Stop twiddling your thumbs. Get tickets for Twiddle!
The Vermont-based band — which enjoys a strong Fairfield County following — will perform at the Levitt Pavilion on July 29-30).
Doors open at 3 p.m. for the Friday event. Twiddle will do 2 sets; they’ll be joined by Mihali and The Nth Power.
Saturday begins with a special 1 p.m. VIP acoustic set. Doors open to the public at 3 p.m. Twiddle will do 2 more sets. Dwight & Nicole and Eggy are on the bill too.
Member tickets are available now. Public tickets – with early-bird pricing — begins at noon today. Click here for details.
A few tickets are still available for Tower of Power’s “Stars on Tour” Levitt appearance this Saturday (June 4, 7:30 p.m.).
Click here for more information, including purchases for all ticketed shows.
Monday, June 20 (8 p.m.) is the new date for the Westport Library’s “Booked for the Evening” with Shonda Rhimes. It was postponed from earlier this week.
All seats have been sold for the in-person event. However, tickets are available to watch via Zoom. Click here for details.
Earlier this morning a student who missed their bus walked to the Dattco bus yard and requested a ride to Bedford Middle School. Personnel at the bus yard mobilized to provide transportation for this student.
Some time thereafter, personnel at the Dattco bus yard contacted the school district’s transportation coordinator to inform the coordinator about their plan to transport the student, but unfortunately provided incomplete and inaccurate information regarding the student’s identity and school. Our transportation coordinator immediately contacted the BMS and central office administration.
The administration then swiftly contacted our Westport Police Department School Security Officer (SSO) and School Resource Officer (SRO), and the Staples administration. After investigating to determine the identity and location of the student through video surveillance, our SRO discovered that the student was dropped off at Bedford Middle School, but then left the bus and walked towards Staples High School.
As a precaution, our SSO and SRO then sought additional resources from the Westport Police Department. Both schools were placed in a shelter-in-place.
Through collaboration with the school and district administration, the student was then correctly identified, interviewed, and it was determined that the shelter-in-place could be lifted.
The administration is committed to identifying the breakdown of the Dattco bus yard communication and protocols in this incident.
Again, I have complete confidence that at no time were our students and staff in danger. Additionally, it is clear that the positive and collaborative relationship we enjoy with the Westport Police Department, and the swift actions of our Bedford and Staples administration, along with our transportation coordinator and central office administration, all contributed to the timely resolution of this matter.
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I don’t care if this post is on the Staples High School Alumni Facebook site. I do care how speedily it was dismissed, and deemed “inappropriate” for alumni to read.
